1999



Richard Kamler | Bayview Sculpture Garden

Bayview Sculpture Garden was a collaboration between the children and youth who form the community at Bayview Safehaven, the San Francisco League of Urban Gardeners, and artists Pamela Blotner and Richard Kamler. Bayview Safehaven is one of three “safehavens” adminstered by the Delancey Street Foundation. It is located in a high-crime area and schedules its programs after school, when an alternative such as this is most needed to prevent troublesome activities. The artists believe that providing urban youth with a safe, comfortable space in which they can work creatively and engage with arts and mentors can be a significant crime preventative measure. The goal of the Bayview Sculpture Garden was twofold: to initiate an on-going art project which involved the youth community in this afterschool environment by making a sculpture garden, and to create a meditative space in this intense urban area, which can be enjoyed by all residents and visitors.

Johanna Poethig | How I Saved San Francisco

The Inner City Public Art Projects for Youth program posed the question “How Will You Save San Francisco?” to youth aged 11 to 17 throughout the city, and selected numerous outstanding responses that addressed violence, the excitement and fear of living in an urban environment, and the way the social and physical aspects of the urban environment affect young people. What resulted was an innovative media campaign titled How I Saved San Francisco, that served as an antidote to the negative media environment that youth, a much marginalized demographic of our society, are surrounded by as they grow up. Posters featuring the youth as heroes in their own movie posters, advertisements and political campaigns were created and distributed in public spaces to inform and entertain city residents about the vital issues in the environment. Six of the How I Saved San Francisco posters were chosen for display in the Market Street Kiosks during October 2000 through the San Francisco Art Commission’s Art in Transit program.

Judy West | Mission Creek Bikeway Mural

The Mission Creek Bikeway Mural was designed and fabricated by the San Francisco-based artist team Laurel True and Lillian Sizemore, and serves to visually introduce the Mission Creek Bikeway and Greenbelt Project known as Avenida del Rio to San Francisco’s Northeast Mission District community. The mural depicts the artists’ interpretation of Mission Creek and the wooden bridge that once crossed the river at that particular intersection (now known as 16th and Harrison). The design was based on vintage maps and images from the 1860s that show the fertile, agricultural valley that is now the Mission District. The mural contains over 120 different colors of tile and mirror, with each piece hand shaped and cut to create a jewel-like appearance. Judy West, founder of the Madrina Group, a Mission-based community revitalization organization, funded the mural, which was unveiled and dedicated on October 9,

JURORS for this year were: Justin Chin, poet and author; Harriet Dodge, performer; Arnold Kemp, visual artist and associate visual arts curator, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts; Miya Masaoka, composer and sound artist; Christine Pielenz and William Laven, co-directors, Potrero Nuevo Fund.

images (l to r): photo(detail): Richard Kamler (2001); image (detail): Art Span/Johanna Poethig (2000); photo (detail): Q & A Multimedia (2000)